'Fortnite: Battle Royale' just got an update — here are all the latest additions

Nintendo

For months now, "Fortnite: Battle Royale" has kept players on their toes with weekly — and sometimes daily — updates to the game, including new character skins, limited-time game modes, and fun and interesting challenges.

Some of those updates have been just for fun, and some actually change the way the game is played. For example, in the days leading up to the beginning of Season 5, the game hinted that a rocket launch would change the island forever. During the actual launch, the rocket caused a large rift in the space-time continuum to open up above the center of the map, and several items and landmarks throughout the island started disappearing. 

The developers have also introduced or removed a few truly game-changing tools throughout the game's history, including jet packs, guided missiles, fast-moving vehicles, and rifts. 

Here's everything that's been added to the island in the last two weeks:

NEW WEAPON: Double Barrel Shotgun

Epic Games

Epic's update notes say the newest gun can be "devastating at close range," but only allows the player to take two shots before reloading.  

NEW LIMITED-TIME MODE: Steady Storm

Epic Games

Fornite's newest mode features a constantly-shrinking storm that envelopes the island in exactly 15 minutes. 

The timed mode forces players to keep moving in close to one another, and leaves little time for looting or building and defending hideouts. It should make for some fast-paced firefights. 

 

The no-pressure, no-combat Playground Mode is back this week, as rumors swirl that the sandbox style mode will soon be dubbed a permanent addition to the game.

Epic Games

"Playground" is a limited-time sandbox-style mode that lets players take a break from the fast-paced battle royale formula by roaming through the island with up to three of their friends, without any opponents to shoot at or hide from.

The mode includes the island's normal amount of loot, plus ten times the normal gather rate for building materials, and a hundred llamas scattered across the island, giving players the perfect environment to hone their combat and building skills without having to worry about scavenging for weapons and resources.

With this new update, many of the game's resources are increased. Ammo cans now give ten times more ammo than they do in the regular battle royale mode, players are more likely to find the rare launch and bounce pads, and one hundred supply drops will fall to the island throughout each match.

Friendly fire will be turned on, so squad members will be able to deal damage to one another. Never fear, though — players who are killed in Playground Mode will immediately respawn and parachute back onto the island.

After 55 minutes of free play, the storm will begin to close in on the island, eventually ending each round after a full hour has gone by. Deaths outside of the eye of the storm will not result in a respawn.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

See Also:

• Nearly 5 years after launch, we compared the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One — and it's a harder decision than ever
• Fortnite’s creators placed a tombstone Easter egg in the game as tribute to a viral video of a doomed rescue mission
• The next generation of game consoles is scheduled to arrive in 2020 — here's what we know

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